The most publicised incident happened in 1984, when respected Māori rights activist, and then telephone operator Naida Glavish was told by her bosses not to use the expression when greeting customers on the phone.

In August 2014, the greeting stirred controversy after a KiwiYo employer resigned from her job after allegedly being told not to welcome customers with “kia ora”. Read more »

The new Kim Webby film shows Tame Iti from a different perspective. Video: PMW/PMC

Pacific Scoop:Report – By Alistar Kata

Most audiences are used to seeing Wairere Tame Iti as the Māori activist, who most notably shot the Australian flag at a 2005 Waitangi Tribunal hearing, and recently when he was arrested as part of the 2007 so-called “anti-terrorism” raids in Te Urewera.

But a new documentary entitled The Price of Peace goes beyond the surface into the world of Tame Iti, and takes a different approach to telling the story of the Tūhoe raids.

Award-winning director and co-producer Kim Webby says she wanted to show all sides of Tame Iti. Read more »

Eyes of Fire author David Robie speaks about nuclear testing and climate change in the Pacific at the book launch. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Pacific Scoop:Report by Michael Neilson

A two-month Eyes of Fire student educational campaign with a microsite on the Rainbow Warrior experience has climaxed this weekend with a relaunch of the book and the author calling for justice for the Pacific victims of nuclear testing.

The relaunch of David Robie’s Eyes of Fire coincided on Friday with the 30th anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior bombing by French spies on July 10, 1985, at Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour.

First published in early 1986, the book tells of Greenpeace’s campaign with the Rainbow Warrior against nuclear testing in the South Pacific, the penultimate mission to Rongelap, its subsequent bombing and the political fallout that followed. Read more »

Following more than 30 years as a skipper for Greenpeace, Pete Willcox is as fired up as ever over his environmental work, even after facing a few adversaries along the way.

He was on board the first Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed on July 10, 1985, by French secret service agents at Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour; he was detained by Russia for 100 days as part of the “Arctic 30” for protesting against oil drilling in the Arctic; and he’s been arrested many times around the globe.

Rather than discourage him, these battles have only reinforced his resolve to fight for what he believes in. Read more »

The new Rainbow Warrior book being relaunched tomorrow on the 30th anniversary of the 1985 bombing by French secret agents. Image: David Robie/Little Island Press

Pacific Scoop:Report – By Neil Sands of Agence France-Presse

The ire still crackles in Pete Willcox’s voice when he discusses the sinking of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior.

Willcox was captain of the environmental group’s converted trawler when frogmen working for French intelligence slipped into Auckland Harbour late on July 10, 1985, and fixed two large limpet mines to its hull.

Portuguese-born photographer Fernando Pereira died in the subsequent blasts, which New Zealand’s then Prime Minister David Lange described as “a sordid act of international state-backed terrorism”. Read more »

Video showing the violence used by Israeli commandos during the hijacking of the Marianne of the Freedom Flotilla III on Monday. The footage shows Israeli Arab Parliament member Basel Ghattas addressing the commandos with a loudhailer, former Tunisian president Dr Moncef Marzouki, and a flotilla crew being repeatedly tasered. Video from ReshetTV Israel. (Warning: Footage may be disturbing.)

Pacific Scoop:Report – By Medea Benjamin

Israel Defence Forces violently intercepted the Swedish boat named Marianne in the early hours of Monday to prevent it from landing in Gaza, using tasers against unarmed passengers.

Aucklanders at the “Je Suis Charlie” rally in January … improved relations between New Zealand and France. Image: David Robie/PMC

EYES OF FIRE MICROSITE

Pacific Scoop:Report – By Amelie David in Auckland

Thirty years on, the Rainbow Warrior bombing in New Zealand is still a sensitive topic in France.

For some French people who know about it, it is a sad episode in history that they would rather like kept in the shadows.

In his book Rainbow Warrior, Mon Amour, French environmental photographer Pierre Gleizes, who has recorded Greenpeace campaigns for many years on board the Rainbow Warrior, describes his shame when he learnt about what happened to “his” boat. Read more »

Front page of David Robie’s cover story in Islands Business news magazine in August 1985. Image: John Miller/Eyes of Fire

Pacific Scoop:
Backgrounder – By Len Garaein Port Vila

On the night of 10 July 1985, three decades ago, the Vanuatu government representative on board the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, Charles Rara, was on shore leave with Baldwin Lonsdale – current Head of State.

He was staying at his home at St John’s Theological College in Auckland, where President Lonsdale was then doing his studies.

Captain Pete Willcox and some of his crew were already asleep on board the campaign ship. Read more »